Volume 7, Number 1     

February/March 2015

Also in this issue:
Jerod Roberts joins the Shumla staff
Shumla South of the Border
Wish List
Donate to SHUMLA Using PayPal
Join Our Mailing List

Carolyn with Shumla's gracious host in Mexico, Julio Amador Bech
What a Year Shumla is Having!
Shumla's Dr. Carolyn Boyd meeting with Dr. Francisco Villaseñor Bello at the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl at Teotihuacan


So much is happening at Shumla that we've hardly had time to write about it! This year so far: 

  • We welcomed two new staff members - Jerod Roberts, our new Staff Archaeologist, and Jessica Lee, our new Executive Director.
  • We shared great food and Shumla news with local landowners and rock art site stewards at our annual Rancher Stewards BBQ.
  • Carolyn and Vicky traveled for two weeks in Mexico giving lectures at the national university (UNAM), visiting ancient sites with Mexican researchers and making plans for collaboration with Mexican archaeologists to study rock art on the other side of the Rio Grande.
  • We are continuing our on-going rock art documentation work, focusing on sites in imminent danger of flooding.
  • Our archaeologists are preparing to present at the prestigious Society of American Archaeology conference in San Francisco in mid-April.
  • Carolyn is preparing to present at the International School of Structural and Molecular Archaeology - 4th
    Course on "The materiality of artistic creation: weaving
    visual culture and chemistry" in Erice, Sicily (Italy), in April. This conference is presented by the Ettore Majorana Centre and involves researchers from across the globe coming together in Italy to discuss the study of visual culture.
Read on in this edition to learn more about Jerod Roberts and Shumla's trip to Mexico.

Jerod Roberts Joins the Shumla Staff

 

We are so happy that Jerod Roberts, our archaeological intern for the Fall/Winter, has joined our team full-time. 

 

Jerod brings archaeological experience and technological savvy, which Shumla has benefited from time and again as we continue to explore new technologies in rock art recording and research. 

 

He is working with Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to create site maps and pinpoint each rock art figure in geographical space. He is also working on 3D modeling of sites and the transition to absolute color values in our photography. 

 

Jerod also enjoys his role teaching students in our Shumla Scholar's Program each week. They learn surveying and mapping with GIS, documentation, and most importantly how to work as a team. 


Shumla South of the Border

 

In February, Carolyn Boyd and Vicky Munoz spent two weeks in Mexico presenting Shumla's research, representing Shumla on visits to ancient sites and making plans to collaborate with Mexican archaeologists on the study of the Lower Pecos rock art south of the Rio Grande. 

 

We could fill twelve eNews with all that they accomplished and experienced but here is a quick "Photo Diary" of their trip. 

 

The first site they visited was Chalcatzingo, guided by a specialist in Chalcatzingo archaeology, Carolina Meza Rodriguez. There they saw the pyramids and the famous Olmec bas-relief art (700-500 BC) carved into stone slabs at the base of the mountain.

 

Carolyn presented six two-hour lectures during the trip, to researchers and students at ENAH (the national school of archaeology and history) and UNAM (the national university of Mexico). Julio Amador Bech, Mexican Archaeologist and their host for the trip, acted as interpreter for all her lectures. Her topics included Shumla's rock art documentation method, artistic analysis of Pecos River Style rock art and the interpretation of the White Shaman mural using Huichol ethnography and Nahua mythology. The response to her presentations was overwhelmingly positive and the Mexican scholars are anxious to collaborate with Shumla and use our methods in their research.

 

 

Next the Shumla trekkers headed to Teotihuacan with six members of the Tlaloc Project, specialists in Teotihuacan and Mesoamerican iconography. They arranged a surprise for Carolyn and Vicky to go into the sacred "underworld" tunnel built under the Temple of Quetzalcoatl. This tunnel is not accessible by the public. The walls were coated by the builders with shiny pyrite that glittered in the light of their flashlights. After their underworld journey, they visited the Teotihuacan murals painted on the inside walls of rooms within the compound. Julio and the Mexican iconographers were so impressed with what they learned of Shumla's recording and research method that they prepared a grant immediately after this visit requesting funding to be trained by the Shumla staff.

 


 
Finally, Carolyn and Vicky were taken to Xochicalco. Their guide, Jose Cuauhtli gave them a four-hour tour through the pyramids and vistas. Then he drove them to a nearby town to view the historic rock art found there.  

 

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. We will be posting more information about this incredible trip and the collaborations that will result on our website and Facebook soon. 

 

Shumla Wish List

Thank you to all who have donated items from our Wish List in the past. We value your help so deeply. Each gift, each dollar, each small or large item makes a difference in our ability to do our work. Your support means the world to us.
Thank you!


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Shumla Archaeological Research & Education Center 

PO Box 627 / 148 Sanderson / Comstock, TX 78837 USA

enews@shumla.org    432-292-4848      www.shumla.org 

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Article submissions, questions and comments can be sent to: jlee@shumla.org